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Tonight, a Soviet nuclear submarine is on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, damaged three days ago by a fire on board.
今晚，一艘苏联核潜艇沉入了大西洋海底。3天前，这艘潜艇遭遇火灾。
Officials in Washington and Moscow confirmed this morning's sinking.
华盛顿和莫斯科的多位官员确认了此事的真实性。
Officials in both countries also said the loss of the vessel presents no atomic threat despite the presence of both nuclear missiles
美俄两国的多位官员还表示，这艘核潜艇虽然沉没了，而且船上有带核弹头导弹
and a nuclear power reactor on the submarine. NPR's David Malthus has a report:
和核动力反应器，但不会造成重大威胁。下面请听大卫·马尔萨斯为您发回的报道。
Pentagon officials say the crippled Soviet submarine, which normally carries sixteen nuclear missiles,
美国国防部官员表示，这艘沉没的苏联潜艇一般情况下可以携带16颗带核弹头导弹，
each with two warheads, went down just before dawn six hundred and eighty miles northeast of Bermuda.
每个带核弹头导弹带有2个弹头。在天亮之前，这艘潜艇就沉没在了百慕大群岛东北部680英里的地方。
The Soviets put the precise time of sinking at 4:03 am eastern time,
苏联方面认定的沉没时间是东部时间4:03。
and Moscow says there was no further loss of life aside from the three crewmen killed when a fire broke out Friday.
苏联政府表示，周五爆发火灾时，除了3人死亡外，就没有其他的人员损失了。
American surveillance planes observed that towing efforts were halted shortly after midnight.
美国侦查飞机观察到，午夜过后不久，拖车就停止工作了。
About three hours later, the remaining crew members were observed abandoning ship in an orderly and planned fashion, according to American officials.
多位美国工作人员表示，大约3小时后，有人注意到，剩下的机务人员井然有序地离开潜水艇。
The crew was rescued from life rafts by five soviet surface ships in the area.
该地区的5只苏联水面舰艇从救生艇中解救出了这些机务人员。
Pentagon officials say a US ocean-going tugboat was nearby and ready to assist, but the Soviets refused any help.
美国国防部的多位工作人员表示，一艘美国的远洋拖船就在附近，随时准备援助，但苏联拒绝了帮助。
Pentagon sources do not rule out the possibility that the Soviets scuttled their sub once it became clear that leaks could not be controlled.
有国防部线人称，也有可能苏联人是发现核泄漏无法管控后就决定弃船了。
The Soviets have not explained the cause of the damage to the ship,
苏联方面并未解释船体受到损害的原因，
but Pentagon officials say there was an explosion in one of the missile tubes that blew a big hole in the deck.
但有国防部的工作人员表示，其中一个导弹管发生了爆炸，导致甲板被炸出了一个大洞。
Vice Admiral Powell Carter describes the damage this way:
海军中将鲍威尔·卡特是这样描述船体损伤情况的：
You're talking about a structure that's enormously strong up there.
这艘潜水艇非常结实，但还是受到了严重的破坏。
It's like, each of those missile tube doors that shuts is just like a safe vault.
每个关闭了出口的导弹管都像个保险库一样。
And then it shuts and locks with a big rotating ring, and that's been torn completely loose and bent like a pretzel back.
像旋转环一样锁死了的导弹管出口居然被彻底扯动松了，像卷饼一样回弯着。
So the Force of the explosion was enormous.
可以推断出爆炸的力度可以说是非常大的。
While Pentagon Officials say they don't know what caused the missile tube explosion,
一些国防部官员表示他们不清楚导弹管爆炸的原因，
they point out that Soviet missiles use highly volatile liquid fuel, and a fuel leak could have caused the eruption.
同时也指出，苏联导弹使用了稳定性极弱的液体燃料，有可能是燃料泄露导致了这次爆炸。
Again, Admiral Carter: These liquid fuel systems are very, very dangerous; they're very unstable.
对此，海军中将卡特表示：这些液体燃料系统非常之危险，非常不稳定。
That's why, very early in our missile programs as pushing a leading edge of technology,
正因如此，我们在导弹项目之初本来是想采用这种尖端技术的，
we moved to solid fuel missiles, early on just for that fact, because liquid fuel is extremely dangerous.
但最后还是转向了固态燃料导弹，就是因为担心爆炸，因为液体燃料十分危险。
Admiral Carter said it was possible the nuclear warheads on top of the missile burned in the fire,
中将卡特还表示，有可能导弹顶端的核弹头在大火中受到烧灼，
or were thrown out into the water and sunk to the bottom 18,000 feet below.
或者是被投掷进了水中，然后沉到了1.8万英尺的水底。
He said the other missiles and warheads might have been damaged by pressure as the sub sank,
他表示，其他导弹和弹头有可能在潜艇下沉的过程中因为受到压力的作用而损坏，
but there was no chance of a nuclear detonation or serious radiation leakage.
但无论如何也不可能发生核爆炸或者严重的辐射泄露。
The submarine's nuclear reactors, officials say, are self-contained in what amounts to rust-proof metal vaults,
一些工作人员表示，这艘潜艇的核反应堆内置于防锈的金属弓体内，
and the Soviet say the reactors were shut down prior to sinking.
苏联方面也表示，这些反应堆在沉没之前就关闭了。
US officials say preliminary tests of the air and sea in the area have produced no signs of radioactive release.
多位美国官员表示，对该地区空气和海洋的初步测试表明并不存在放射性释放的问题。
Pentagon officials say the US will not make any attempt to recover the Soviet sub.
国防部的工作人员认为，美国不会尝试恢复这艘潜艇的性能。
"It's Soviet property," says the Navy.
美国海军表示，“这是苏联的财物”。
Retired submarine Captain James Bush of the Center for Defense Information says a salvage effort just isn't warranted in this case
已退役的潜水艇艇长詹姆斯·布什在美国国防情报中心工作，他表示，这种情况下，打捞是不可能的了，
with the submarine that was designed in the 1960s.
毕竟这艘潜水艇是上世纪60年代制造的。
It's an old submarine with old missiles.
无论是潜水艇还是其携带的导弹都十分老旧了。
I don't know that we would consider it worthwhile to have them to look at for the amount of money involved.
我觉得没有必要让他们为已经投入的资金而去打捞。
Now, it would probably be worthwhile if we could get their communications equipment and their coding equipment,
现在有意义的是：获得他们的通讯设备、
their key lists, and things like that to decode messages.
编码设备、主要清单等，从而解码信息。
But I'm sure that the Soviets, with the time that they had prior to the submarine sinking, should have gotten all of that material off.
不过，我肯定，就苏联在潜水艇沉没之前可以行动的时间来看，他们就应该忘掉建造潜艇的钱。
Pentagon officials say the sub loss should not be a serious setback for the Soviets, but some analysts disagree.
国防部的多名工作人员表示，这艘潜艇的损失不会给苏联带来什么影响，但有些分析师并不苟同。
Pentagon consultant Norman Freedman says the Soviets have to be worried about liquid fueled missiles on other subs.
国防部咨询师诺曼·弗里德曼表示，苏联必须得担心其他用液体来为导弹提供动力的潜艇了。
These things are time bombs, Freeman says.
弗里德曼表示，这些东西就是定时炸弹。
They should all be called in and checked out. I'm David Malthus in Washington.
都要召集回来做检查。感谢收听大卫·马尔萨斯为您从华盛顿发回的报道。
